He received his Ph.D. in political economy from Carnegie Mellon University with the guidance of Nobel Laureate Herbert Simon in 1993.

During the completion of his dissertation, he was an assistant professor of public administration of the John D. Rockefeller IV School of Policy and Politics at West Virginia University[19] as well as a research associate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Center for Public Affairs.

He also received the Outstanding Dissertation Award from the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA) in 1993.

[26] He was also a representative (2023–2024)[27] of the ruling People Power Party for the Special Committee for the Constitutional Revision at the Korean National Assembly.

He has published 18 books and over 150 articles in edited volumes and scholarly journals such as Comparative Politics, Comparative Political Studies, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, and Public Administration Review.

Seoul: Nanam Publishing House, 2016; 2003; 1999.ISBN 9788930036634 • After Development: The Transformation of the Korean Presidency and Bureaucracy.

Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 1997 (with Christopher Plein).ISBN 9780878406609 • "Comparative Analysis of Soft Power Between South Korea and the United States: A Theoretical Mechanism Approach" Forthcoming in Journal of Asian and African Affairs (with Uk Heo and Sooho Song).